Team SNST: Prisoners of War
by luckoftheduck
Summary: You can turn a person into a weapon but you can't turn a weapon into a person. Right? Meet Team SNST (Sunset), a team of young Atlas specialists with unique and powerful skills and abilities and an agenda of their own. Unfortunately for them, they're going to find out the hard way why Remnant, the world full of legends and fairy tales, isn't so happily ever after.
1. 1: A New Playing Field

**A/N:** I first would like to apologise for my absence. It's...been a rough couple of years. Struggling with anxiety and stress, alongside with study commitments and family issues, its pretty hard to produce quality content. Speaking of quality, I would also like to apologise to those who were enjoying The Collapse of Vale. The story itself wasn't going anyway or was headed for a massive plothole(s) that couldn't be rectified. I also felt as some of my OCs weren't what I had first envisioned. I wrote without direction and have improved upon it. Now, each time I publish, I will stay ahead 2 or 3 chapters or so to ensure I can go back and patch up any issues in the plot.

* * *

 **Chapter One:** A New Playing Field

It was the night after the Breach incident where Vale was saved from a potentially catastrophic Grimm attack. Thanks to the combined efforts of the exchange groups and Beacon's own huntsmen teams, there were no casualties and only injuries were reported. There was a large amount of damage to infrastructure and businesses but clean up and repairs had began almost as soon as the incident ended. It would probably take over a month for Vale to fully clear the streets of rubble and debris and then another month after that for businesses and roads to reopen completely. Regardless, the people of Vale had a positive outlook and were keen to return their city back to 100%.

For the students of Beacon and the exchange teams that were assisting during the Breach, a ceremony was held to commend their efforts and bravery. Unfortunately, for the gang, the special guests' speeches seemed to drag on for far too long. There were a few special guests present at the ceremony; the General of the Vale Army, Vale's Minister of Defence and one of the Supreme Council members were the most noteworthy.

General Jason Steele, the General of the Vale Army, was a hardened war veteran and his hair and facial scars certainly said so. His short pale white hair, eyepatch covering his left eye and three large scars across his entire face gave him a frightening look. He was known for his short temper and absolutely no bullshit attitude. There was an incident where he had 'dishonourably discharged' several soldiers for not having a valid reason for being late. As a result, his army consists of a relatively small number of highly skilled soldiers. They didn't have the numbers or resources of the Atlas Army but they certainly could get the job done well.

The citizens of Vale had mixed thoughts on Hades Ebony, the Minister of Defence for Vale. Half of the population seemed to praise him for his actions for maintaining peace through aggressive and strict monitoring policies in derelict suburbs and neighbouring towns. This unfortunately lead to lots of racial discrimination and unfair criminal profiling. For those who despised Minister Ebony, it felt like a witch hunt which bred paranoia and anxiety amongst those affected. It wasn't solving the problem, it was allowing the seed of chaos and anger to flourish in the right environment. Unfortunately, since his supporters come from the upper class, he remains in the Vale Government. Ozpin and Ironwood don't get along with him at all.

Finally, Supreme Council Member Flare Ember was the most powerful person present at the ceremony. The Councilwoman was apart of the Mistral Army and at one point, was their most valuable soldier. She was well known for her precision and efficiency, rivalled by only a handful of people. Eventually, she retired from the Army to pursue a seat in the Supreme Council. To this day, she still wears her Mistral Uniform, consisting of a crimson red beret, red camo tank top, combat pants and black combat boots. She wasn't particularly tall, standing in at 5 foot 6, but her achievements put her on a pedestal beyond that of a legend and everyone gave her utmost respect as she deserved it.

"I would like to apologise for the troubles and potential harmful risks created with the absence of Vale's Army force. With our low numbers and limited resources, we could only provide a handful of our soldiers. Fortunately, Vale has other defences aside from the Army. Atlas' Army and their General and good friend of mine, General James Ironwood was present to defend our great city. Thank you, James, I'm in debt to you," General Jason Steele spoke without emotion except for his very last line. James simply nodded at his praise. "Vale has another source of defence from Beacon Academy. Whilst young, their students are far from inexperienced. I'm sure we all know Beacon holds a high standard for their students, but yesterday, each student went above and beyond the call of duty to defend their city. Coincidentally, the Huntsmen and Huntresses Exchange program had commenced yesterday and I hope that doesn't tarnish their opinion towards Beacon. Also, I am grateful that they did not shy away from what was required and every exchange team had contributed to the defence of Vale. Thank you."

The audience hesitated to clap until General Steele had taken his seat to avoid getting on his bad side and receiving his wrath. Once the audience gave a round of applause, everyone was relieved that they can stop holding their breath and relax their muscles that were frozen during the speech.

"Does he always have to be so uptight?" Weiss complained quietly to her team.

"Coming from you, Weiss," Ruby mocked her partner. Weiss gave her a light slap on her wrist for the cheeky remark.

"Hey! I can be nice…occasionally. I just have to be in the right mood. I've never seen him happy."

"Whatever the reason, Vale owes a lot to that man. Just like Ironwood, he isn't one of those Generals who sit on their ass in a room giving out orders. They've fought on the frontlines in the past and they sometimes still do," Yang said with a respectful tone.

"Hey, where did Minister Ebony go?" Ruby asked with confusion.

"I saw someone go up to him and he had to leave. I'm assuming something more important had come up that he needed to attend to. Although, Supreme Council Member Ember wasn't particularly happy about it," Blake explained since she was paying close attention to what went down.

"Speaking of her, she's about to give her speech."

Flare Ember confidently marched to the pedestal and cleared her throat. Her blood orange hair was neatly tied in a tight braid that draped over her right shoulder and her salmon pink eyes peered across the hall giving several students a good look, one being Ruby Rose. Ruby quickly panicked and sank further into her seat, avoiding eye contact with the Council Member. Flare cracked a slight smirk and shook her head.

"Yesterday, Vale was facing a potential catastrophe however, with combined forces from Huntsmen and Huntresses from the four major academies and the Vale and Atlas armies, we have protected what matters the most to this city, the people. Everyone was able to sleep that night knowing that regardless of the damage that had been done to Vale's buildings and infrastructure, their loved ones are safe. It'll take time to repair all the damages but I believe this incident has brought the citizens closer together from what I have observed today's repair efforts," Ember spoke with pride for the students she saw in front of her. She made eye contact with Ruby once again which made Ruby more nervous than before.

"Why does she keep looking at me?" Ruby panicked quietly in her seat. She squirmed around trying to deter Flare's gaze.

"Sit up, Ruby! She's one person you want to make a good impression on! She's a Supreme Council Member," Weiss scolded with a slap on Ruby's head.

Flare watched this little scuffle undergo and couldn't help but giggle and smile.

"Finally, I would like to especially commend one group today from the bottom of my heart. A team of Huntresses had embarked on a search and destroy mission in the ruins of Mountain Glenn. What was supposed to be just a Grimm Extermination mission ended up being much more severe. They stumbled upon a secret White Fang base where they were plotting the Breach. Without their intervention, I'm sure that the damage we had suffered yesterday would be on a much larger scale. Could Team RWBY please come up to the front of the stage to receive an award."

"WHAT!" all four team members yelled in unison. An award, personally given to them by Supreme Council Member Flare Ember. This was just a dream, right? The four girls swallowed down their shock and began their shaky walk to the front of the stage. Everyone looked at them and agreed that of course Team RWBY would find trouble and somehow fix it. They were renowned for doing just that. Team RWBY stood in a line, awaiting their award. Flare handed out personalised military medals to each of the girls to commend their bravery and efforts to save Vale. She then followed up by giving four personalised envelopes with her own seal to their respective recipients.

"Thank you, Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang. I cannot thank you enough for what you have done for this city," the redhead congratulated away from the pedestal. She returned to the pedestal and began applauding, which was quickly followed by the audience's applause. ' _These girls will be crucial in protecting this world. For now, we can let them rejoice in their good deeds.'_

* * *

"I can't believe we got a personal thank you and letter from Supreme Council Member Flare Ember," Yang squealed in excitement as the four of them headed to their dorm.

"It's quite surprising. Normally she's the one receiving praise for her service. To receive something from such a respected and powerful figure is quite thrilling actually," Blake had to admit. She too was excited. Ruby was dumbfounded and remained silent until they got inside their dorm. Simultaneously they opened their envelopes carefully and pulled out the letter inside.

"Wait, is yours handwritten?" Weiss asked the others.

"Yeah and it's addressed to us individually," Blake added.

"Did she handwrite four different personal letters to us?" Ruby questioned.

"Seems like it. Wow we must be something special, hey? To receive such a personal award from her never happens," Yang commented. They were mumbling the contents of their letter under their breath until the final sentence.

"…I also believe you four deserve something much more than cheers and praise so I've attached a reward to the back of this letter for each of you to use where you see fit.

Each of you have the potential to reach for the stars and I look forward to working with Team RWBY in the near future.

Lots of Love, Flare Ember." Each of them had spoke out aloud at the same time. Together they turned around their letter and saw a cheque stapled to the letter. Their eyes widened in shock when they read how much they received.

"250,000 Lien!?" they all screamed and collapsed onto their beds. It was too much for their young brains to comprehend. The Great Flare Ember gave them a large amount of money and a personalised letter.

"Yang, hit me please. This is just a dream. This can't be real," Ruby asked her sister. Yang delivered a devastating blow to Ruby's head but nonetheless, this wasn't a dream. So much for that…

* * *

Ozpin stared nonchalantly outside his office window, as the sunset slowly crept into the horizon. He could get a large view of his school grounds. During the day, he would see students happily conversing during the morning and lunch breaks. Some engaging in physical activity through sports or some being committed students and training their Huntsmen skills. This time, he watched the last few people return to their dorms after the ceremony. Once everyone had cleared the courtyard, the sunset was in its full glory. That was until a few minutes later where Ozpin spotted a silhouette traversing the sunset. Even though he couldn't see the man clearly, he had a gut feeling that he knew exactly who he was.

 _Hmmm. Perhaps I should notify James and Fla-_

DING!

 _What a coincidence._

The elevator doors opened and revealed six people inside. Two of them were Flare Ember, the Supreme Council Member and his good friend, James Ironwood. On his list, these two people held the top two spots for his most respected people.

Standing with Ironwood and Flare was a slender pale skinned woman. Her hair was a silky silver and was completely straightened. Her eyes were an emerald colour and had tiny white specks that looked like stars shining in a green nebula. Her attire consisted of a very sleek Atlas Specialist Uniform similar to Winter's, but was a grey colour and trimmed with a crimson red colour and gold buttons. Her hands were covered with white silk gloves and wore a silver armlet on her right arm with a snake theme to it. Some uniforms amongst the Atlas army had different coloured trimmings, which Ozpin assumed was to distinguish which branch they belonged too. Either that or this woman had good taste in fashion.

The remaining three, though, he hadn't met in person and only heard stories. The infamous Atlas team of young soldiers. Team SNST. _Oh, how fitting for their leader to be returning during the sunset._

The first member he glanced at was a dark purple haired girl with gentle golden eyes. Her hair was very long and had lots of volume, just like Yang's. Except hers was far more aggressive and spikier. She wore it in a ponytail with two spikes running along down the sides of her head. She had flawless facial features apart from a frown welded on her face which donned a almost iridescent glow on the slightly tanned skin. She wore a black armoured combat suit, designed for resisting gunfire and small explosions and on her back was a blackened double edged longsword with a mechanical handle. Ozpin had seen something like this before where the blade splits down the middle and transforms into two pistols; rare and definitely deadly. Finally, along her left leg was a combat knife hidden in one of the plates and on her belt holstered a plethora of tools and a backup pistol and knife, typical amongst military personnel. She was probably similar height to the blonde brawler, maybe a little bit shorter, but her body shape was fit and curvaceous just like Yang.

Next to her was a short young boy who hid underneath a snow white sniper's cloak. Under the hood was ghost white spiky hair and ice white eyes, similar to Weiss'. He wore light plate armour painted the same colour as his cloak and wore high tech gauntlets with several displays on the wrists. His left arm however seemed to have more bulk and was more armoured than the other arm. His hips and the thighs were certainly bulkier than normal and was probably hiding something underneath. His skin was pale and quite freckled in areas, especially on the cheeks. The boy probably only stood an inch taller than Ruby and this sniper rifle probably was 6 feet in length. It was enormous and looked like it packed a serious punch, based on how big the muzzle brake was.

Lastly, the elephant in the room, or rather, the giant Avian in the room. A towering seven foot, 350lb muscular beast of a Faunus stood out from the rest of the unique looking people in the room. His skin was very tanned, very scarred and had lots of tribal Avian tattoos. His hair was long and a vibrant orange colour, neatly braided and tied up, which complemented with fiery eagle like eyes. His wings probably had a wingspan of 9ft and his feathers shared the same colour as his hair. He wore engraved Avian armour, which was a bronzed colour. His chestplate didn't have any armour on the arms which revealed his very muscular limbs. On his back was a massive greatsword, fit for a large man like himself. Ancient Avian script and symbols were carved along the hilt and blade and the grip and pommel were very ornate. It was definitely specially crafted for a very important person from the amount of detail and work put into the blade.

"Supreme Council Member Flare Ember, Doctor Engella Valhalla and my dear friend James, welcome. Glynda has most likely gone to fetch the remaining member of this gathering," Ozpin welcomed with a stoic expression. Ironwood stepped forward after the greeting.

"Ozpin, this is the team of young specialists I've been talking about. Team SNST," Ironwood introduced with a hand gestured towards the three off to his left. The trio remained silent, afraid to disrespect their superiors currently in the room. "A troublesome bunch, I must say, but you have your own special team, do you not?" Ironwood gave Ozpin a smirk.

"Perhaps. So this is Atlas' version of Team RWBY? A…unique group I must say. I can see why you have a bit of trouble with them James. You've made a team with the daughter of the Gaia family, the Avian Prince and one of the best snipers I've seen. And let's not forget their enigma of a leader who has yet to arrive. You certainly have gone above and beyond yourself this time." Ozpin redirected his attention from Ironwood.

"While they are far from perfect, they are certainly brilliant especially for their age. Meet Terra Gaia, Vulcan Scorch and Neos Lykos." With Terra Gaia being the violet haired girl, Vulcan Scorch the Avian Prince and Neos Lykos the tiny sniper. "Now, their leader should be here any moment now."

DING!

As soon as Ironwood finished his sentence, a tall muscular soldier marched his way out of the elevator, followed by Goodwitch. He had silver spiky hair with one large spike running along the left side of his face. His eyes were a deep sky blue colour that seemed to glow brightly. His attire definitely was fitting of a soldier. He wore a silver combat suit, reinforced with light armoured plates. On his back were two daos with a recurved shape, sheathed crossways. On his hips were two military sabres with ornate guards. Along the sides of his torso were two holsters carrying a powerful pistol each. He also had an assortment of knives and tools on his lower back and in compartments in his suit. From head to toe, he was completely armed. His outfit was designed to holster the maximum amount of weaponry, ammunition and tools.

He walked with focus and purpose. He had a job to fulfil, and he wouldn't be steered off course. But it seemed like he just came back from a rough day at the _office_. His face was bloodied and scarred and he had bandages wrapped around several areas on his body, especially his midsection and a bandage across his right eye like a makeshift eyepatch. Behind him, in one hand, he dragged an empty power armour suit that was battered and dented, suggesting that he himself had taken out the pilot inside. Along the chest of the power armour was a symbol. It was symbolic of a sun but painted a slate black. The black sun was circled by text in an ancient script that seemed to glow around the sun. The entire thing seemed to be charred and blackened, perhaps due to fire damage.

"Ah, perfect timing, Sterling. Welcome back," Ironwood spoke with a relaxed voice. "I would like you to meet two very important people. This is Supreme Council Member Flare Ember. I'm sure you have heard about her."

The silver haired man turned to face the Councilwoman and gave a slight bow. "I've heard the stories, Supreme Council Member Ember. Pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise, soldier," she replied with her typical authority. The man turned to face Ozpin and locked eyes with the headmaster. It was as if both men tried to read each other from the look they gave each other but ended up cancelling each other out.

"Sterling Serpen. It is a pleasure to finally meet you. Ironwood has spoken highly of you hence I had you scout out the remains of Mountain Glenn. Unfortunately, I didn't expect to see you to return in such a shape. I'm sure Engela here will take good care of you."

"Don't worry, Oz, I've already familiarised myself with Sterling Serpen. I've becofme more his personal doctor rather than Head of Medical Operations and Bioengineering. Regardless, I'll patch him up after this meeting," the silver haired woman finally spoke up. She had a kind hearted voice with a Germanic accent. Engela Valhalla was the best medic and bioengineer at Atlas and has been the main researcher for some of Atlas' greatest innovations, especially within the realm of Biotech and Bioengineering.

"So Sterling, do you have anything to report?" Ozpin asked, already knowing Sterling sure does have something to report. Otherwise, he wouldn't have dragged that power armour all the way to his office and dirtying his pristine floor. _I hope it doesn't leave a permanent mark._

"As one of your teams was trying to stop the train, I scouted out the White Fang as they were packing up operations. However, they weren't the only party there. There were several heavily armoured soldiers engaged in combat with the fleeing White Fang. I couldn't get a vantage point to see where they were headed, and when I tried to tail them, I got spotted by their assailants. I took him out, but before I managed to ask him questions, his body burned up in black flames. The rest retreated through a portal of some sort." Sterling reported with a lack of emotion in his voice.

"Black flames, you say?" Engela asked with a lot of concern.

"Yes, black flames. I've asked a source of mine if they've encountered this group. They didn't know much about them and they haven't appeared on the map very much."

"Yeah. I have done several autopsies on partially combusted bodies and done my research on the case. A PMC that goes by the name of the Obsidian Sun. There's not much else known about them either. Especially what their motives are. Hopefully its for the better."

"This is quite unsettling. Our enemy, whoever they may be, has shifted their focus. It started from small crimes, like robbing small dust shops. This eventually escalated into the Breach and thus involving more powerful foes or allies." Flare spoke swiftly and with utmost concern.

"So what shall we do?" Engela spoke with a voice of action.

"Team SNST."

"Yes!" all four member simultaneously replied.

"We'll be needing your assistance in the future within Vale. Unfortunately, Vale seems to be their first target. Prevention is key to stop any disease so we must keep them contained within Vale. I will sort out accommodation for you four."

"Actually, that will not be necessary, Supreme Council Member Ember. Because Team SNST has already made themselves known amongst the enemy within the past few months, just like how Team RWBY has done, we cannot let them be without any protection or supervision. Whilst I am aware of how good they may be, they are still young and have a lot to learn," Ozpin rebutted with a slight smile on his face. _Let's see how James reacts to this._

"So what are you suggesting, Headmaster?" Flare asked with genuine curiosity.

"I say enrol them at Beacon for the time being. Use it as an alibi."

"Absolutely not. I am not just going to loan you my best te-" Ironwood argued before being cut off.

"I think it's a splendid idea!" Flare interrupted with surprising joy. The entire room was in shock to see the Councilwoman in such a girly state. But nobody dared to spoil her mood. She was still the most superior figure in the room and arguably the strongest member there. Arguably because nobody has had the guts to challenge her. Ozpin may stand a chance against her, but what would be the purpose of such a match.

"But I need them fo-"

"Do you really? I'm sure your precious Elysian-7 can pick up the pace? Your team of specialists? What about Specialist Schnee?" Her smirk was rather frightening and Ironwood's iron will had buckled underneath her authority.

"You win this time, Ozpin. At least this gives me a chance to show them off up close and personal," Ironwood retaliated with mockery.

"Oh, don't you worry, James. I'll be sure to grade them as hard as I can," Glynda spoke up.

"That settles it, Team SNST, is unofficially a Beacon team," Ozpin spoke cheerfully. Ironwood began to head for the elevator, with Flare and Engela following close behind.

"I hope they won't cause too much trouble, Oz. They've already gotten a mouthful from Jacques," Ironwood warned as he was leaving.

Terra, Vulcan and Neos remained unphased from the criticism. To be fair, Sterling knew damn well they deserved it. Regardless, Sterling paced towards Ironwood to get his attention.

"General Ironwood, may I talk to you in private?" Sterling asked politely. Since the meeting was coming to an end, Ironwood and Sterling took the first elevator down by themselves whilst the others were waiting in Ozpin's office.

"So what is it you wanted to talk about?" Ironwood asked.

"I'm under the suspicion that the Elysian-7 has been compromised," Sterling spoke with utmost seriousness.

"Surely not? Those seven soldiers are some of my most trusted men."

The Elysian-7 were Atlas' seven most skilled soldiers and for good reason too. Each member has mastered every aspect of battlefield combat from marksmanship to stealth to rescue work. They are capable of defeating small armies solo and can last for weeks out in the field without having to rest. People believe that if the Elysian-7 were to fight united as one, they would be unstoppable. It is thanks to them that Atlas can sleep at night knowing that their loved ones will stay safe. But their operations span across the entire planet, not just Solitas.

"Let's not jump to conclusions just yet. We have nothing but speculation to go off though I've seen their names around during the past few infiltration missions I've been on. They are the three that keep on getting mentioned but not the other four. Seemed a bit odd for those three and not the others, especially considering the power that the other four possess."

DING!

"Keep an eye out for Jet Meisterjaeger, Angelo Gaia and Loki Ebony," Sterling whispered close to Ironwood's ear as they parted their ways, with Sterling exiting the elevator. Ironwood gave a deadpan look at his soldier.

 _'Who do I trust?'_ Ironwood thought to jammed his foot in between the elevator doors as they were closing. "Sterling. Go get yourself cleaned up." Sterling looked down and realised he had been covered head to toe in injuries and bandages. "Engela didn't look too happy. You know how she can be sometimes."

"Will do, General. Have a good night."

After everyone had left, only Ozpin and Glynda remained as it typically was during the night. Paperwork, bookkeeping and other management always piled up if they got lazy just for a second and the night was always the best time to finish off any remaining work they didn't get to during the day. However…

"More damage bills…another complaint…damage bill…warning from Minister Ebony…they do not know when to stop, do they?" Glynda groaned as she hastily sifted through the paperwork, using her telekinesis semblance to her advantage.

"Just redirect them to the Council. Flare will work there for the next few days so I'm sure she can pull a few strings just like how she always does," Ozpin spoke as if dumping the workload onto another poor soul was nothing to bat an eye about.

"Beacon's living up to it's reputation. Ever since Team STRQ, we've been causing trouble and just slap the "We're Huntsmen and Huntresses" excuse on top."

"I do recall that you were in the same year as Team STRQ. You always have had quite the temper and with a semblance like yours, young Glynda certainly was no saint when it came to collateral damage. Especially the famed Food Fight." Ozpin had the most mocking smirk on his face as he brought up embarrassing memories of Glynda's time as a Beacon student.

"Tai started it! He's the one who pitched that damn watermelon at Qrow, who proceeded to hit it with his food tray!"

"Luckily, Team SNST doesn't cause that kind of trouble. Terra is far too disciplined, Vulcan is of Avian royalty, Neos seems to shy away from social scenarios and Sterling…well…we've yet to discover who he is. The thing I'm most worried about is the trouble they are going to cause with the enemy. At least I hope that is the case."

"They still children though so they very well could act like children."

"Coming from you? I thought you wanted to scold Team RWBY and JNPR for acting so childish?"

"Ozpin, I will stop bringing you coffee if you utter another word."

Ozpin kept his mouth shut for the rest of the evening. Ozpin couldn't take the risk. Not with his coffee at stake.

 **-END-**

* * *

 **A/N:** This section next is inspired by Mojo1586's Team AMBR series by giving my OCs a real life voice actor in case readers are familiar with the voices from other anime or TV shows. It's not the only thing that I have been inspired by so those who are familiar with the series will see similarities here and there. I highly recommend you check his masterpiece out if you haven't already.

 **-OC Voice Cast Introduced-**

General Jason Steele - Fred Tastasciore

Supreme Councillor Flare Ember - Colleen Clinkenbeard

Sterling Serpen - Robert McCollum

Doctor Engela Valhalla - Lucie Pohl


	2. 2: Hands Full

**Chapter Two:** Hands Full

"…so we're escorting a decently sized convoy of important people to the airport so they can go somewhere a bit safer," Ruby explained for the fifth time to her friends.

"Yeah, Ruby, we got it after the second time you explained it. How about you guys?" Weiss groaned before turning her attention to Team JNPR.

"Us? We've been assigned to do a five day scouting mission to the Eastern Ranges. Ozpin suggested that another team should check for any activity there since you girls had encountered issues over at Mountain Glenn. Apparently there have been bandit reports from the villages scattered across the mountains," Jaune replied stoically.

"What?! That's sooooo not fair! How come you guys get to go on a super cool scouting mission?" Ruby cried out.

"Uh…Ruby, did we just not get back from basically the same thing?" Blake rebutted.

"I mean, yeah, but…it's not the same, okay?!"

"Hey ladies…" A suave voice came from behind. Everyone knew it could only belong to one person, Neptune. And wherever Neptune went, Sun was always by his side. Or was it everywhere Sun went, Neptune was always by his side?

"AND Jaune and Ren…geez, Neptune, can't forget those guys," Sun groaned as he rolled his eyes at his partner's antics.

"Hey, Sun. Hey, Neptune!" Ruby eagerly greeted the duo. "How's it going? Recovered from the Breach?"

"I've got this itch on my tail that I can't seem to get rid of but other than that, ready to get back out there. What we've got lined up will be great preparation for the tournament coming up in a few weeks. Today, we're tagging along with one of the Vale military's best squadrons. A cargo train needs to pass through a checkpoint that has been overun by some Frontier militia. Should only take a few days and then by the time we're back, classes should be back up and running."

"Again, what?! Where do you guys get all these cool missi-"

BANG!

The large doors to the Food Hall swung wide violently and stood three strangers at the entrance; a male with silver spiky hair, a giant birdman and a purple haired girl with resting bitch face. The sudden appearance silenced the entire Food Hall and everyone set their eyes on the new faces. The trio walked in as if they didn't notice the staring and weird looks from everyone. Whispers and quiet chatter slowly began to erupt as people were curious as to who they were.

"Who are they?" Ruby was one of those people. Ruby turned around to see Weiss squinting at the girl with the dark purple hair and Blake could be seen eyeing the enormous Avian, thundering down with each footstep. The trio found a spot where they could sit and eat, with the Avian causing a loud ruckus as he sat down. The bench creaked ominously and the table sounded like it began to split.

"New students perhaps?" Pyrrha suggested. Blake was about to say something until a high pitched grunt, resembling more of a squeal than a grunt, could be heard from Ruby's direction. Ruby just witnessed a small boy, barely taller than her, clumsily trip over with all his equipment spilling onto the ground. She leapt up to help him to his feet and used her semblance to quickly dash around to pick up the bits and pieces on the ground.

"Oh, thankyouthankyouthankyou…" he quietly thanked Ruby. "imjustabitofaclutz…" he continued to mumble on his apologies and excuses and Ruby snapped him out of it.

"I'm Ruby. What's your name?" she politely greeted. The rest of the group looked at her just like how they did when she first encountered Penny. She stuck out a warm handshake. The boy awkwardly stared at her hand for far too long. He quickly regained some social skills and shook her hand.

"Oh, I'm Neos Lykos," he replied with a bit more volume this time.

"Some serious high tech stuff you're carrying around." Ruby then proceeded to hand his stuff over which he quickly gathered without snatching it away.

"Sorry! I guess I'm the tinker in my team. I mean Sterling is pretty good with this stuff and Vulcan is pretty crafty sometimes and Terra she ca-" he continued to ramble on and Ruby couldn't keep up or know where to begin understand what he was saying. He quickly picked up on this. "Oh! I'm sorry, I do ramble on quite often. Sorry if I'm boring you."

"Oh! No, no, no! It's fine." Ruby smiled forcedly to try and lighten Neos' mood. "So Neos is it? You said you're in a team. Where are they?"

"Oh my team? They're just sitting over there." He pointed to where the strange trio had just sat down.

"Them? Are you guys new or something?"

"Yeah, we just transferred from Atlas."

"Atlas?" Weiss spoke up to only then mumble something into her hand. "Then it has to be her…" There was an awkward silence between the two cloaked snipers. Ruby twiddled her thumbs behind her back, thinking of something to say until…

"I really must be going, sorry."

"Oh! Yeah, of course, I d-didn't mean to h-hold you up or s-something. I guess I'll see you around?"

"S-sure thing." Neos quickly ran off nervously back to his team. Ruby just stood there idly until her older sister came charging in, grabbing her by the collar and shaking her violently.

"Who is he?! What did he do to you?! He didn't say anything to make you feel uncomfortable, did he? I'll kill him!" Yang blurted out in a fit of irrational rage, eyes glowing red as if someone snipped a single strand of her golden hair.

"Yang! Stop being ridiculous. He just tripped and fell and I went to pick up his stuff and had a small talk, that's all," Ruby yelled at Yang for her hysterics. Yang quickly snapped back to reality and then had a sly look on her face.

"Oh…I get it…" Yang snickered. It took Ruby a moment to realise but when she did, her cheeks turned almost as red as her cloak.

"YANG!" Ruby began hammering her fists into Yang's arm but Yang was unphased.

Meanwhile with Team SNST…

"So we're back to dirty work?" Terra scoffed at the level of difficulty of the mission they were given.

"That doesn't mean we stop our true objective. I know Cinder is here in Vale, and she could very well be right under our noses. I think we could find something beneficial with this mission. We can interrogate the ganglord while we're there. See if he knows anything," Sterling explained stoically.

"So all we have to do is bust in and clear out his cronies?" Vulcan spoke excitedly.

"Remember what the actual mission is. We need to rescue the hostages but the requester never said how we should do it. So here's how I reckon we do it." Sterling pulled out his scroll and blew up a 3D image of the multi-story complex they were infiltrating. "Thanks to Neos, we've got a map to work with so get familiar with it. The building is built into the hill, so I'm expecting them to put the hostages in the lowest floor up against the hill. This means we can't go in from behind or above. Neos, you'll be positioned upon the hill, and basically do what you do best. Provide cover fire wherever and whenever you feel. Terra, you'll be the one responsible evacuating the hostages. We'll get a pilot on standby to pick up the hostages and I'll be out with their leader. Vulcan, you're going to be our bait." Vulcan grinned at those words.

"I'm liking where this is going."

"Since we may be wrong about the location of the hostages, we'll need you to get captured and plant the scanner once you've located the hostages. You'll assist Terra with the escape. Escape however you want, but there is not to be a single scratch on those hostages."

"Gotcha."

"Alright, we'll go over this once more during the drop off but we're looking for a 12pm dispatch, 1pm start time and 4pm finish time. This way, we may be able to assist in the convoy of important figureheads headed for the airport."

"What about interrogation?" Terra asked bluntly.

"I'll handle that."

"Hmph. Fine then. I was looking forward to making him squeal." Her menacing words was followed by a merciless chuckle.

"Knowing him, I'd doubt he'll put up a fight. He'd probably just blurt out everything we want to know if we so as much tense a muscle. So you're not missing out on much," Vulcan explained, placing his arms behind his head and giving his wings a good long stretch.

"Onto other important tasks, how are we for relocating our base of operations, Neos?" Sterling asked his small teammate. Neos quickly snapped back to reality and regained his senses.

"Eh. I'd probably could set up a new base quicker than it would to move all the equipment. I just need a ship to relocate all of my projects and some crucial pieces of equipment. The rest I could just manufacture again. This issue is space. In case you didn't know already, I like my working space so I want something bigger than the hole in the mountain we have in Atlas," Neos grumbled to his team flicking his fork at his food.

"If there's a problem Neos, we're all ears," Vulcan spoke with genuine friendliness and placed a comforting hand on the little boy's shoulder.

"No, no, no. It's just…uh…" Neos quickly needed to come up with an excuse to divert their attention. _Shit, what do I say?_ "I left Tiny all alone back in Atlas." _Haha! That's the best excuse._

"PFFFFT! You what?!" Terra spat the contents of her drink all over Vulcan and slammed her fists into the table, causing it to crack and split.

"Wait…what?" Neos took a moment to realise what he had just done. "Oh, shit! What have I done?! He'll never forgive me!" He slammed his head into the table and began bawling his eyes out comically. Vulcan pulled his scroll, which was a red and gold colour as opposed to everyone else's white and light blue, and sent a message. A few moments later, the scroll buzzed and a smile crept onto Vulcan's face, with Neos still sulking in the background.

"I just got Nisha to go pick him up. She has some important business tonight so we'll have to wait until tomorrow. Don't worry she'll take care of him back at her place. She's a real good babysitter. Believe me," Vulcan reassured the small sniper.

"Thanks, Vulcan, I appreciate it. At I can sleep tonight without getting my head bitten off by Terra." His statement was follow shortly by a loud scoff from the violet girl.

 _'I'm not that bad am I?'_ she mentally scoffed at the remark.

* * *

"So…that silver haired punk is here…" Mercury began, as if he was leading onto something else. The terrible trio were all settled down in their room, all nice and wrapped up in comfort. While they may be plotting evil villainous plans, they are still entitled to the supreme comfort that Beacon's dorms offered.

"And?" Emerald asked, rolling her eyes.

"When do I get to fight him?" He was almost bouncing up and down in his seat.

"No, Mercury. You'll get your turn eventually, assuming he survives the upcoming chaos. We stick to the plan and make sure nobody, especially Ozpin and his detestable secret committee, discovers our plans. A full frontal assault on Atlas would be suicide so we have to move our pieces with caution and precision. Unfortunately, those amateurs from the White Fang failed to cover their tracks and were tracked by Obsidian Sun," Cinder spoke with her usual malevolent but sultry tone. "Hopefully they're not too suspicious and try to investigate. I've heard…less than ideal things about this mysterious group. Their ability to portal in and out is quite concerning and I do not want get them any more involved."

"What about the shipment of weapons a few days ago?" Emerald directed towards Cinder.

"Yeah, do you think Zhelyazko is gonna help?" Mercury asked with slight doubt in his question. "There's something about that dude I just don't like. His face especially…looks like he butted heads with a Rampede."

"Oh, he will help. He owes me a favour and he doesn't have much of a choice in the matter."

"And hypothetically if he doesn't want to cooperate?" Emerald worried that everything may not fall into place so swimmingly.

"I appreciate the concern, Emerald, but I'm far too invested in this for it to be stopped by such a simple defiance. He'll either comply with our terms or I'll just let him get crushed by Vale. For Plan B, our…Atlesian friend in high up places has been working with Adam Taurus on a special project. Hopefully we'll get to see it in action, but at the same time, hopefully we don't get to see it and everything runs perfectly. It's a win-win no matter what."

"What's he got planned?"

"And ruin the surprise? Let's just say it's dramatic…sinister…and most importantly…ironic."

"So what now?" Mercury asked with excitement. You could also see him about to jump out of his boots in uncontrollable tension.

"We simply wait. It still a few weeks away until the tournament and we just have to make sure every piece falls into place. Keep everyone on edge, keep everyone busy, keep everyone guessing. The only way for this to work is to manipulate the kingpins and crush them from within. Atlas cannot hold up the sky if he has no legs to stand upon. Then the kingdoms will come crashing down. All in due time…"

* * *

Team JNPR were the first of their friend group to leave, given that they had a long journey ahead to reach the first designated stakeout campsite. Beacon's air staff were also kind enough to take them all the way to the closest station to the rendezvous site where their supervisor should be waiting at. Looking outside the airship, a lone man next to a silver civilian SUV could be seen just by the border gates.

" _Get ready to disembark, we're approaching the drop off spot,"_ their pilot announced over the ships speakers. The pilot had gently touched down and now that Team JNPR were on the ground, they could clearly see who they were following.

Golden eyes peered behind pair of gold aviators and a set of perfect teeth shined brilliantly. A neat ponytail of dreads complemented a well groomed beard with a patterned undercut. His dark skin untouched and still under the effects of youthfulness. He wore a black combat trench coat with a floral pattern which covered a combat plate suit painted metallic gold. Around his neck were a pair of top of the range headphones which was quite odd to see in any combat role. It was hard to see but a keen eye could've seen the two holsters on either hip underneath his trench coat. In each were two large pulse pistols that looked like they could take down a Rampede in a single shot.

"Hey, I get it, I look good. Taking a picture makes it last longer but that's gonna cost yah," he joked with a booming laugh to follow. "The name's Reggie Skyler. Sweet and simple, the ladies love it. So you're Team JNPR, huh? Let's see who we've got…Skye's little sister, the ninja, bomber girl and an Arc. Oz certainly knows how to put together a team. Although, a little lacking in the zazz department. Especially you, Pyrrha. And Arc! Have some grit, pull your shoulders up and puff your chest out! You are Julian's blood by the way. As for the inseparable duo…uh…honestly, I've got nothing. Just keep on doing what you do best."

Team JNPR were very surprised and were at a loss for words. They were expecting a roughened veteran huntsman or a strict and stern commando, but this – this is absurd. The swagger he walked with, the soothing presence and laid back attitude was so out of place. It's no wonder why his wardrobe matches his personality. Reggie waved a hand in front of them to try and coax a response out of them.

"Hey, you guys alright? Promise I won't bite…much. I get it, I'm different. You were expecting Mr. Takes No Shit like General Steele or grovelling old Angelo and his "Darn kids, get off my lawn". I want this mission to be as enjoyable as possible. And I'm going to need y'all to be on the same page as I am. Otherwise, the airship back to Ozpin's hasn't left. Do you agree with the Terms & Conditions thus far?"

No response.

"That's the spirit! Now, strap in crew and get comfy cos it's gonna be a looooonnnnggg drive." Reggie in an instant marched ahead towards the SUV they would be riding. Team JNPR still a bit dumbfounded slowly made their way to the vehicle. Eventually, Nora spoke up with her typical boisterousness.

"He seems fun!" Nora chirped.

"Is this guy for real?" Jaune whispered amongst his team.

"I HEARD THAT, ARC!" Reggie yelled from up ahead.

"Perhaps there's more than meets the eye, Jaune. The way he walks and carries his confidence is, in a good way, unsettling. Is he really that strong that he's so certain of himself? We'll just have to see for ourselves," Ren chuckled. Reggie took a quick glance at Ren after he finished his quick analysis.

' _Oh, that's only half the story, buddy.'_

* * *

"What's our situation?" Sterling spoke into his headset to his team. Him and Terra were crouched in a bush nearby the west corner of the complex, waiting for the commotion to settle down after Vulcan went for "a stroll".

" _Guards are slowly returning to their usual patrol patterns after Vulcan's diversion. There is a gap in their patrol because of the guards allocated to escort Vulcan. The west wall towards the hill is clear of guards. That's where you should enter. The brickwork on the west side is worn out and should be plenty of handholds to get to the top of the building. The bathrooms are located on the ground near the gap in the defence. Terra should bust in through there once we've gotten the location of the hostages,"_ Neos reported back with his analysis of the current situation.

"Thanks Neos. And Vulcan?"

" _I'm still waiting for the scanner to broadcast. In the meantime, its safe to reposition yourself near the gap I specified."_

Sterling gave Terra a quick nod and the two were in a silent dash alongside the west wall. They spotted where on top of the wall where there was no guard positioned. Sterling pulled out his scroll and studied the live map Neos was feeding back to their scrolls. There was only one guard they needed to deal with. Sterling pressed his back against the wall, hands interlocked and ready to give Terra a boost over the wall. Terra stepped back a few paces and then ran towards Sterling. Her foot connected with his hands and was tossed up into the air, clearing the wall with ease. She briefly glowed a dim purple colour and landed silently. She located the guard facing away from her and didn't hesitate in sprinting towards him and knocking him out.

On the other side of the wall, Sterling sprinted hard towards the wall, connected his right foot on the wall and grabbed onto the ledge. He pulled himself over and quickly dropped down to where Terra was.

" _Vulcan's scanner has returned a signal. You are much closer than we thought. The bathrooms are actually located almost directly above where the hostages are being held. Unfortunately, my guesses are that the bathroom is directly above where the prison guards are. I detect a fair amount of radio waves and communications around there,"_ Neos spoke after receiving a signal from Vulcan's scanner. Terra looked at Sterling, waiting for instructions. Sterling was thinking hard on their options on what to do until he returned the look to Terra.

"Your call Terra," he spoke bluntly. "We're going to have to deal with them at some point. I'll call in the airship now and by the time you get out, you'll be picked up straight away." Terra nodded and walked towards where the bathroom wall was. She focussed her aura around her and moved her hands as if she were prying an elevator door apart. Her purple aura was being projected onto the wall and after a few moments the wall began to separate like an elevator door. However, the bricks weren't broken, but had been compressed lengthways. She quickly dashed into the bathroom and sealed the wall back up.

Sterling looked up to the very top of the estate and he could see a clear path to climb up all the way. No guards as well. They're basically asking for him to break in and interrogate him. Sterling wasted no time and began scaling the estate. He climbed with stealthy precision, making absolutely no noise. It was clear that he was very skilled in stealth by his movements. Each handhold, each foothold and each jump had so much thought put into to reduce the chances of detection.

It didn't take him long to finally reach the balcony that wrapped around the entire top level of the complex. He slid towards the wall next to the glass door to the office. He could hear multiple people inside already and as he took a quick peek, he could see five tall henchmen and one short and pudgy bald man. Sterling focussed on the features of the man to ensure it was their target. Noticeable underbite, left glass eye, left ear has been cut. This was definitely their target.

Coincidentally, the five bodyguards left the office, likely instructed to deal with Vulcan's intrusion. Sterling waited for a few moments to be sure that he wasn't bothered by anyone else. Once he was ready, he unsheathed one of his knives and held it by the tip to throw it. He opened the door and threw the knife right next to the short man's head against the wall. The knife sank into the wall and most certainly gave the man the biggest fright of his life. He turned around and panicked to see another intruder in his estate. Sterling began pacing towards him, with another knife in hand, tossing it around to intimidate even further.

"Hello, Mr. Vacca. Sorry to barge in. I'm just here for a few questions," Sterling spoke with sincerity. Mr. Vacca tried to reach for his weapon but Sterling had cut him off. "I wouldn't do that. Not only can I throw this knife faster than you can grab your weapon, it would also be very painful. I'm not here to hurt you. I just want some answers."

"O-o-okay! I'll talk! Just don't hurt me!" Mr. Vacca blurted out in fear. Sterling motioned towards the ornate lounge suite in the centre of the room, with two couches facing each other and a coffee table in between. The both sat opposite each other, but it was clear who was the dominant figure. Sterling, calm and collected. Mr. Vacca...not so much.

"What business do you have with Cinder?"

"Cinder? I don't know who that is." Sterling wanted to believe he was lying but he blurted it way too quickly for him to come up with a lie.

"Cinder, the Black Queen?"

"The Black Queen?! Did she send you here?! Oh, gods have mercy on me, please!"

"Relax, I'm not working with her nor am I here to kill you. Just tell me how are you're associated with her."

"S-she came to us, wanting our help to move weapons, dust and ammunition to the Eastern Ranges. But she forced us to, nearly searing my face off with her demonic magic."

"When was this?"

"When she came to us or when the shipment was done?"

"Both."

"She came to us about a month ago, gave us a list of what was needed from us. It was mainly warehouses and ways of hiding the gear before the shipment was done. I have warehouses on the outskirts of the city to the East so it made it easy to move it. We shipped it out two days ago."

"Of course. Using the Breach as a distraction for the real threat. What kind of gear are we talking about?"

"There was a large amount of refined dust for fuel, assumed to be used in the mechs we had to ship. There were obviously a large amount of guns of all sorts and ammunition to go with. There was one crate, though. I told one of my men to check what was inside so we can send the inventories to the destination and make sure nothing was lost. I checked up on him an hour later and his corpse was burned to ashes. The Black Queen you call Cinder told us to stay well away from that crate. I still don't know what is inside but its important."

"East. Why there?"

"I-I-I don't know. I guess the weather and conditions could make a good hideout for a small army."

"And is everything you told me 100% true?" Sterling then pulled out one of his pistols and pointed it directly at Mr Vacca. Mr Vacca quickly squirmed in his seat but Sterling kept his gun trained on him.

"I swear! I swear on my life that everything I told you is true! I don't know what happened between you and the Black Queen but I don't want to be apart of it. I just want to get away from that bitch! Please have mercy!" Sterling simply stood up and walked back outside, not saying anything more. At least not to Mr Vacca.

"We ready to head out?" Sterling spoke to his team.

" _We're waiting on you, Sterling,"_ Neos replied.

"Hostages have been secured?"

" _We've sent them to Beacon where they'll be picked up by authorities,"_ Terra replied. _"And not a single scratch on any of them."_

" _Well, except for one..."_ Vulcan replied in a sarcastic tone. Sterling facepalmed as he knew Terra lost her temper.

" _He was asking for it! We were there trying to get them out but he wouldn't just shut up!"_

" _Doesn't mean you can just knock him out! He's pretty important in these areas you know? What if he presses charges against you?"_

" _So what if he does? If he's smart, he'll know not to mess with me."_

 _Ugh...here we go again._ Sterling thought to himself.

* * *

The convoy of armoured vehicles trucked on with its high priority members and security team, with the addition of Team RWBY. The pickup ran without a hitch, and dispatched ahead of schedule. There were five vehicles dedicated to carry the passengers and five others dedicated to security. Along with the security vehicles, there was a team of four assigned to each of the personnel vehicles. Team RWBY was situated in the central vehicle in the convoy, which held the two most important people of the important people being escorted. The Mistralian Princess, Maria Haru and a tall man sitting closely next to her.

The Mistralian Princess wore an elegant red and gold kimono that matched her golden eyes. Brown lengthy hair that was tied into a neat braid that accented her pale but gentle unblemished skin. The man next to her wore a similar colour theme with his suit. Red blazer with gold buttons and trim, black trousers, simple white dress shirt and an even simpler black neck tie.

Weiss was certainly excited to see a childhood friend again.

"It's so good to see you again, Maria. How have you been?" Weiss chirped lively with a rare smile on her face.

"I've been wonderful, Weiss. Was on vacation in Vale, but I didn't realise you had enrolled at Beacon. I would've come visit if I had known!" Maria spoke back with the same liveliness as Weiss. "What's it like? Being a Huntress and all? I bet Papa Schnee wasn't approving."

"It's…" Weiss made a quick glance at her team and recalled all the good times, all the bad times and everything in between they've had so far. To think they've encountered this amount of action in only a semester. "Unique. It has its merits and pains. But I wouldn't have it any other way. Unfortunately, father is still pestering me about me being the Heiress and all."

"I guess following Winter's footsteps seems more exciting. Would you consider handing your heir to your younger brother?" Weiss made a slight scoff at that thought, barely noticeable. But Blake's keen sense picked up on it. Weiss hesitated slightly but quickly recollected her thoughts.

"I don't know. I don't know if I can trust him or not. Father has made the Schnee Company very powerful but has made questionable decisions along the way. I'm afraid Whitley will do the same. It's way too early to say. He's only fifteen."

"I have to say, he's always seemed to be the odd one out. Maybe its his eyes or he never played with us when we were young." The conversation died down, but quickly was interrupted by Ruby _subtly_ clearly her throat, trying to get Weiss' attention. Weiss glared at her and saw Ruby's eyes flickering between her and Maria.

"Oh! I'm so sorry. Maria, this is my team. This is Ruby, Blake and Yang. Girls, this is Maria Haru, the Mistralian Princess. And this is…" Weiss quickly drew a blank face as she looked at the man.

"I'm Reo Hinata, Maria's boyfriend," he spoke with a calm smile on his face.

"Boyfriend?! How long?" Weiss asked in surprise.

"This vacation was actually our one year anniversary gift to each other," Maria spoke lively with a livelier grin. "It's nice to meet you all. Any friends of Weiss must certainly be wonderful people."

"I don't know whether that's a compliment saying that Weiss attracts wonderful people or an insult saying she's very selective of her friends," Yang mocked her team mate, which was shortly followed by a burst of laughter but a scoff from Weiss.

For the next fifteen minutes, conversation resumed amongst everything except Ruby, who had zoned out staring out the window. She was still amazed at how much damage the Grimm had caused and couldn't help but feel a little guilty in failing to stop the train. Sure, everyone says that they helped prevent the Breach from being much worse, but they were so close in stopping it altogether. If only she had been faster, if only she hadn't gotten caught. Her mind began to become clouded with "if only this, if only that" thoughts.

She was knocked out of her daze after feeling and hearing a thud in the distance. Despite the chatter in the vehicle, she managed to pick up a sound that was reminiscent of an explosion. She stared out the window again and spotted multiple large armoured vehicles, painted black and white, come charging at them. Ruby quickly snatched for her scroll and quickly alerted the rest of the convoy but it seemed to be too late. Ahead, there was a roadblock and they were being flanked from every other angle. Two of the vehicles in front had been rammed off the road and fired upon. Ruby went to check their rear but everyone was forced to duck their heads as heavy machine gun came through the windows.

A loud bloody grunt could be heard from the front and the vehicle violently jerked to the side. The driver had been shot and lost control. The four ton vehicle hit a ditch and rolled off the road into a damaged building. Whilst this may have seemed to bad, them rolling into the building allowed them to sneak out of the vehicle and find better cover. Aside from the unlucky driver, everyone else seemed to be fine. Just a little banged up here and there.

"Is everyone alright?" Ruby asked. Everyone gave the approval that they're alright. Gunfire could be heard from a distance, assumed to be conflict between the other security teams and the assailants.

"We have to get Maria and Reo somewhere safe," Weiss noted. "We can't afford them getting injured in the crossfire."

"They've got us blocked in. All roads out of the intersection are blocked off," Reo examined. "But this building may have a basement area we could hide in for now. Or at least we could move upstairs and stay well away from the windows."

"Sounds good, you okay to do that on your own? Just keep out of sight and we'll make sure they won't come near."

"Damnit! Can't get reception here. Why now of all the times?" Maria yelled in frustration.

"Must be a jamming device. Way too coincidental for all of our scrolls to drop out. This makes things more difficult," Blake explained. Yang hugged the wall tightly until she could make a quick peek at what they're dealing with. She cursed under her breath as she counted the plethora of armoured men carrying rather intimidating weapons. Not only that, they would also have to face the armoured vehicles if they fought out in the open.

"We've got about twenty armed guys out there on foot and one big shot wearing a shit-load of armour. There's about four trucks with turrets on them and they've got men in the trucks blocking our path," Yang reported back to her teammates. "You'd best hurry and find a place to hide." Maria and Reo nodded in unison and carefully snuck further into the building.

"What do we do? We gotta help the others," Weiss asked to her team. Ruby was thinking hard on a strategy, as shown by the serious look on her face.

"We can't just engage them head on. They've got way too many men and too much firepower. But they're not spread out enough for us to take them on one by one. If we had another team with us, we could do it. We gotta disable that jammer wherever it may be so we can call in for help," Ruby explained.

As Ruby finished her analysis, four unknown people just dropped in out of nowhere and stood in combat stance. Team RWBY were cautious but curious too. They carefully peeked out of covered to get a look of who it was. It was the strange new team from early that morning. The silver haired soldier, the giant Avian, violet haired girl and Neos, the boy she met at lunch.

"It's that weird team from earlier this morning. We better go help them!" Yang yelled while leaping out of cover. The others hesitated slightly but followed Yang's lead. They all pulled out their weapons and were ready to fight back the attackers. "Guys! We're here to help!"

Team SNST were a little confused as to where the reinforcements came from but still, a little help couldn't hurt. Sterling made quick glances across their battlefield to analyse the situation. They're outnumbered and don't have much cover to work with against the machine gunfire. The large guy wearing the power armour was also a significant threat. _Engaging them in close quarters will prevent them from firing in fear of hitting their allies. Just the armoured man to deal with._ Sterling shifted his attention to analysing the new additions. _Sniper rifle, gauntlets, katana and_ _lengthy ribbon and a rapier with dust._

"You there! In the black! Help Vulcan in taking down the man in the power armour!" Sterling barked orders to Blake.

"I'm on it, Sterling," Vulcan replied with no question to his orders. He marched towards the big shot, cracking his knuckles to intimidate his enemy. Blake quickly picked up who was her ally. _The Avian Prince._

"Girl in the red cloak, go with Neos to a vantage point and provide cover sniper fire!" Neos didn't hesitate in running towards a building he could scale easily and shoot from above. Ruby doesn't do too much traditional sniping but she knows enough to get the job done for this situation.

"The rest of you, engage them in close range, they can't shoot us from afar without fear of hitting their allies." The remaining four backed closer to each other before engaging the enemies.

Despite Sterling's excessive arsenal he carries on himself, he still prefers to use his close quarters combat skills. He's always felt most comfortable with his arms and legs to defeat his opponents. He dashed towards his first target, stomping the guy's knee, causing him to buckle. Sterling's elbow crashed into the man's face, snapping his head back before Sterling grabbed his head and began to repeatedly slam his knee into their face. He released the man, who staggered backwards and tried to regain his senses but was promptly interrupted by a clean knockout kick.

Terra's aura pulsed briefly around herself, then it shot forwards to her target. Purple tendrils wrapped up the man and pulled him towards her. She delivered a double footed fly kick directly to his abdomen, knocking all the wind out of him. She got back onto her feet and delivered a few quick punching combos before dishing out a devastating backflip kick. The target was definitely out cold after that brutal attack.

Weiss, not one to be one-upped, didn't waste time getting straight to business. She launched a fire dust attack to her target but her target jumped back to dodge it. But she wasn't relying on the attack hurting him, but rather use it to obscure his vision. The fire attack pillared upwards and formed a decent wall, giving her the opportunity for an easy attack. She lunged forward into the wall of fire, but made a big sweeping arc before she reached the wall, so her ice attack would get her target but prevent her from getting burnt. Her attack connected with the man who was slowed by the ice attack. It made it much easier to predict his clumsy overswinging motions with his sword. She easily sidestepped all but one, to which she parried it and disarmed her target. She then used a glyph to propel the man backwards into the wall, crashing with enough force to take him out.

By the time the others had taken out their first target, Yang was already up to her third, having taken out two in one go with a devastating overhead punch. Close quarters was her forte and didn't want to disappoint. She initiated with a hard left uppercut and followed up with a flurry of blows to the midsection. Her enemy blinding swung his weapon horizontally, hoping to sweep Yang up, but she's much too quick and easy ducked the attack. She countered with two shotgun blasts to the chest and ended it with an axe kick. Her target wasn't quite knocked out, but definitely couldn't get back up. "Stay down, buddy. It'll hurt less that way," Yang mocked before turning her attention to her next victim.

Whilst the man in the power armour had the edge in defence, Vulcan had more size, strength and offensive power than him. Blake decided to let Vulcan take the brunt and let him keep them busy, whilst she went for the weakspots. In order to allow movement around the joints, most armour opted for fabric and little to no armour in those areas. To overcome this issue, overlapping plates and layers achieved much better protection. This was the case with the power armour. However, Blake managed to spot the mechanisms underneath the plating around the joints. All she needed to do is get close enough to slide her blade inside. "Can you try and restrain him?" Blake asked whilst circling the two. Vulcan's focus was unwavering but he definitely heard her instructions.

"Understood," was all he said before he stepped back to create some space. His wings began to glow slightly before he dashed towards his target. The armoured man swung his large sword at Vulcan, but he simply knocked away the attack and reached for the man's throat. He grasped on tight and ploughed him into a wall, pinning him temporarily. "Now!"

Blake closed the distance quickly and in mere moments, she was already shimming her blade into the mechanisms of the armour. Once the machine sparked and jerked violently, Blake twisted Gambol Shroud to sever any connections in that arm. The man was now forced to use only one arm. However, he had a trick up his sleeve and slammed his fist into the ground. This generated a bubble shield that propelled Blake backwards and left Vulcan inside to scrap with their enemy. Blake quickly got back onto her feet and noticed the cocky smirk on the Avian's face.

"You wanna scrap? Bring it," Vulcan mocked the assailant. With his only functioning arm, he swung for Vulcan's throat but Vulcan simply blocked the attack and returned with a blow from the other side. "Without your arm, you can't possibly hope to beat the Avian's finest warrior." Vulcan continued to hammer into the man's power suit, leaving sizeable dents in the armour. Once it was clear the guy had enough, he clamped his hand around the face and tore off the mask. "I'm sorry, buddy. You picked the wrong day to go hurting people." With that last remark, he headbutted the man, taking him out of the fight.

Whilst they've dwindled the initial numbers by more than half, this meant the other mean hiding in the trucks have the confidence to firing upon Team RWBY and SNST without hitting their friends. The trucks from the east were the first to start shooting. Everyone but Yang had managed to duck to cover. Yang was too busy mopping the floor with another man and got too into it to notice the gunfire.

"Yang! Look out!" Ruby yelled from her vantage point. Yang jerked her head around and saw the incoming storm of bullets. Sterling reacted quickly and tackled her to the ground, managing to take cover behind a concrete barricade. Neos retaliated with a precise shot at the gunner, and took him out. Would've been a kill shot had it not be for the aura absorbing most of the impact of the bullet.

Sterling continued to focus on the mission at hand rather than worry whether Yang was okay. She got back to her feet and was ready to get back in it. However Yang was unaware of the tank shell headed straight for her until it was almost too late. Luckily, Sterling had supreme reflexes and managed to slice the round cleanly down the middle, diverting it away from Yang.

"Careful! You need to be wary of your environment. Stay vigilant and don't drop your guard." Sterling criticised firmly and turned to his attention to the gunners to the south. Neos saw Sterling leap over the barricade and charge straight for the gunners to the south, unsheating his daos on his back and wielded them with arms out to the side. Knowing Sterling had it covered, he diverted his attention to the final gunners to the West.

"Ruby, focus on the guys to the West. They're the last ones left," Neos suggested to Ruby.

"Got it!" she replied and set her sights on the West. She lined up the shot for the turret gunner but flinched every time Neos sent another round down. The thunderous noise that came out of his rifle was deafening and she could feel it rattle her insides each time. She quickly looked over at Neos and observed his sniper rifle. It was absolutely massive, and that's coming from the Wife of Crescent Rose. Sure, in scythe mode, Crescent Rose was certainly larger than his rifle, but it was certainly close to it. _A longer barrel means more time for the bullet to pick up velocity. The firing_ _chamber is also quite beefy and reinforced. Must mean its a powerful cartridge._ In her trance, she didn't notice Neos cease firing and stare back at her. She zoned back in and was caught red handed. Neos, thinking he had been caught staring at her, snapped his head back around and resumed firing.

" _Oh god, she's gonna think I'm a creep or something,"_ Neos thought to himself whilst feeling heat coming towards his cheeks. Ruby tried to ignore the awkward moment and she too was firing at the enemy.

Sterling reached the attackers at breakneck speeds; leaping, weaving and dodging their gunfire. The tight spaces made it impossible for the turret to make an accurate shot and instead, the gunner foolishly jumped out of the vehicle and attempted to surprise Sterling from behind. Sterling's keen senses picked up on the man's movements and sidestepped his attack. He grabbed onto the mans wrist and redirected his momentum to fling him towards his allies, taking them all out.

From a distance, Yang was impressed at his skills at close quarters combat. She was a sucker for skilled CQC fighters, especially ones on her level. That's why she had utmost respect for Blake, Pyrrha and Ren for their hand to hand combat skills. Sun had an unorthodox style but credit is due where credit is due. But this guy, he's so fluid with his movements. Every attack was seamlessly followed up with a block or counter attack. _'I gotta have a 1-on-1 with that guy.'_

"Let's quickly find the rest of the convoy!" Yang yelled once it was safe to do so. Neos and Ruby were just finishing up taking out the men to the West as Yang said her words. Weiss quickly rushed into the building they had crashed into to search for Maria and her boyfriend, whilst Terra went to the roadblock of rubble to the north and clear it out.

"Maria! You here?" Weiss called out for her friend. "Maria!"

"Weiss, I'm okay!" Maria cried out from below. Turns out, there was a safe basement area to huddle down in. Her and Reo climbed out of the basement and were greeted to the sight of everyone else apart of the convoy alive. Some were badly injured and desperately needed medical attention but they've certainly dodged a bullet. Maria ran to Weiss and hugged her tightly. "Oh! You saved us! Thank you so much, Weiss!"

"I mean, thanks, but it wasn't just me. Luckily, another team was nearby and helped out. Otherwise, it would've been much harder to deal with them. I'm glad they came."

"Still, not easy to stand up against a group of mercenaries."

"More importantly, why did they attack? The Mistralian Royal Family has had no issues with anyone and I can't think of a reason why anyone would hate you."

"Perhaps they weren't targeting me. Maybe some of the others in the convoy were more important to them. I'm sure the authorities will figure something out."

"I think you may be overreacting, you two. From the looks of it, these guys looked more like thugs with a few big boy toys rather than a trained group of militia or mercenaries. They probably were looking for a good hostage to grab and get ransom money out of it. How they knew, I do not know," Reo explained much more simply.

"Surely its not that simple? With what's been going on lately, it can't be something petty like that?" Weiss rebutted.

"I think the Huntress training has become to rub off on you," Maria giggled at Weiss' insistence. "Not everything has to be an epic story, Weiss. Not like the ones we used to read together."

Just above Weiss and the Mistralian couple was Neos leaping over to where Ruby was positioned and giving her a helpful but unnecessary hand on getting back down onto the ground. "It's okay, Neos, I can get back down just fine on my own. Thanks anyway," she politely rejected. With a big huff, she leapt back down onto the ground and Neos followed right behind. "That was some really good shooting, Neos. Where did you learn how to shoot?"

"I'm self-taught," Neos bluntly blurted out.

"Hahaha! Nice joke, Neos. But seriously, who taught you how to be a sniper?"

"I'm serious. I taught myself how to shoot." Ruby was a bit dumbfounded at his nonchalant response.

"But…how?! It took me years under Uncle Qrow's guidance to learn how to shoot and even then, I'm still haven't gotten it!"

"I needed to hunt in order to survive where I'm from. The cold and the predators meant getting anywhere close to food meant you'd die within minutes. I was forced to kill from long ranges and with limited resources, I had to make every shot count. Otherwise I'd go the week without food or waste too many shots and spend the next week without food. Learnt the hard way."

"That's so…cool but like, not cool at all. I dunno what I'd do if I was in your situation. I'd probably curl up into a ball and die." Neos chuckled at her peculiar response.

"Who knows, you might've been the greatest sniper this world has seen had it been you instead of me?"

"Well, maybe you could teach me a thing or two about sniping? If you want to of course, I don't want to bother yo-"

"That sounds cool. And maybe you could teach me how to use a scythe? Or at least, Thunderbolt's polearm form?"

"Oooh, you gun has a second form? I could hardly tell! Show me! Showmeshowmeshowme…" Neos twisted the barrel of his rifle and gave his weapon a couple of twirls and spins around his body. You could hear the crisp clicks and clunks in the gun as the mechanisms gave shape to a very intimidating guandao with a glowing light blue edge. Despite the intimidating size and look of the bladed polearm, the wielder had a shaky grip and was clear that he was certainly not confident in his weapon in polearm form.

' _His grip is far too close together and too far down. A lot of strain on his wrists and shoulders. Footwork and stance is okay but still needs work. The shape of the blade is strongly aimed at powerful cuts. Handling the weapon would be a lot different than Crescent Rose. I'd have to see how he handles it and where to improve upon.'_ Ruby analysed from just a quick snapshot of his grip, stance, footwork and body langauge. "There's a lot to work on. Your grip is incorrect, stance and footwork could be tidied up and most importantly you need to feel confident holding your weapon. Now…your turn!"

"What?" Neos was a bit confused as to what she was asking for. She had a beaming wide smile to his raised eyebrow and bewildered frown. Unfortunately, he wouldn't find out what she meant.

"Neos, time to wrap it up, our airship is here," Sterling ordered as he marched past without giving even the slightest glance at the two. Yang made an attempt to get his attention and make small talk but…

"Hey, thanks for droppin' in. I must say, you're pretty goo- ah?!" Yang haughtily joked but was promptly ignored as Sterling strolled past just as he did to Neos and Ruby. "What's his problem?" Yang asked Neos as she pouted and stuck a thumb towards Sterling.

"Oh, he's not normally like that. I mean, he is normally like that but not, if you know what I mean?" Neos explained very, very poorly.

"No. I do not know what you mean."

"He's only like this during missions. He's always so serious and has a semi zero-tolerance attitude out in the field. Outside of missions he's pretty relaxed and friendly. You just gotta catch him at the right time. The best times I recommend are at meal times and after he's had a workout."

"So…sort of like you, Yang?" Ruby teased.

"Hey! What's that's supposed to mean?!"

* * *

- **OC Voice Cast Introduced-**

Neos Lykos – Antony Del Rio

Terra Gaia – Merle Dandridge

Vulcan Scorch – Patrick Seitz

Mr. Vacca – Nolan North

Reggie Skylar – Patrick Seitz (this man is a prodigy)

Maria Haru – Gin Hammond

Reo Hinata – Micha Berman


End file.
